Software is commercially available with a graphical user interface for selecting and editing a digitally generated image in a number of ways. For example, to "cut" or delete a portion of the image, the user can use a mouse to select an area of the image by clicking the left mouse button while the screen "cursor" is located on a corner of the image that is desired to be deleted, dragging the screen "cursor" with the mouse to another corner, thereby outlining a portion or all of the image.
After selection of this region, the user then completes the "cut" by either selecting the "cut" command from a drop-down menu (using his mouse and/or a keyboard), or alternatively, by using his mouse to select and activate a graphical interface "cut" button or icon. In either case, known image editing software is invoked which performs the "cut" operation, resulting in the original image being replaced by an edited image which has a blanked-out area enclosed by the boundaries of the region so selected.
Conventional image editing software typically permits an edited image to be restored, for example, by saving the data corresponding to one or more levels of previously edited image data and providing the user with an "undo" button or icon, and/or an "undo" menu option, which then invokes software to replace the current version of the edited image with a prior version. However, when using an "undo" command to restore the original image, the user of the software cannot effectively see both of the two images simultaneously, that is, cannot see both the edited image and the original image at the same time. This leaves the user at a disadvantage, particularly when several related images are being created from the same original and/or a careful examination of the edited image reveals defects that might have been avoided if the area in question had been selected more carefully. Although the original image may subsequently be restored and re-edited, the boundary and contents of the ordinally selected region will have then disappeared, possibly resulting in several "trial and error" iterations before an optimal result has been obtained.